Priere D'Aria
by The One Who Remembers
Summary: He looked up to the skies, remembering the talks with her, before she fell to the Black Mage. Rated T just to be safe.


So I kinda had this idea waaaay back when I asked some friends of mine about what Maplestory fanfics to write and they decided on this. Hope you enjoy this; this story is dedicated to LDWUL and VampireDiRos on the MSEA forums.

Disclaimer: I do not own Maplestory. If I did, cash items wouldn't be so expensive in SEA server.

* * *

The Master Thief Phantom. Student of Raven, said to steal virtually any materialized thing. He leaves no marks, only leaving those which let them know he was there. Why he became a hero, nobody knew.

Except him. He didn't want to become a hero, Heck, he didn't want to get involved in any of this. At all. But in the end, he joined the battle for his own reasons. But first, let us go back in time to understand all this.

It was a few months back, before the battle of the Black Mage with the 5 heroes of Maple World. Word caught on Phantom's ears about the legendary jewel Skaia. Interested in this, he began to plan his heist on the jewel Skaia, said to be the proof of being a worthy Empress of Ereve.

When he did reach Ereve however, what he did not expect was the lack of guards surrounding the palace as in any other night. Or the fact that the Empress was all alone on the balcony of her room. Seizing the opportunity, he teleported to the balcony and began the heist. When he was in the middle of doing so, he heard a feminine voice.

"I was expecting you, Master Thief Phantom."

Turning back to look at the owner of the voice, Phantom looked at the Empress right in the eye. His face began to burn a lot, a feeling that was alien to him appeared in his heart. Not knowing what it was, and therefore dispelling it for the time being, he asked the Empress her name.

"Aria. Empress Aria."

Aria. A name worthy of an Empress, he thought. As he noticed guards were on the way to the Empress's room, he began to head back to Lumiere. "I will be back, my dear Empress, for that jewel of yours." With these words, he teleported back into Lumiere.

"Huff huff" the guards caught their breaths as they ran to find the intruder, to no avail. "Empress, did he manage to get in your room?" asked the lead guard. Empress Aria pondered this for a while, and finally decided on an answer. "No, I have not. I was alone on the balcony the whole night. Perhaps you have been mistaken?"

"Erk…" the guards looked at each other, not knowing of the situation. Then the lead guard spoke up. "Empress, I apologize if this bothers you, but we recently obtained Intel that Phantom would be making his appearance here, on this very night to steal the Skaia." Empress Aria then answered politely"Perhaps your Intel may be wrong at times, dear Head Guard. May I ask you to check on your Intel before you plan to do anything that will involve me or my belongings?"

"Uh… alright. I apologize for barging into your room, and hence I request leave." "Apology accepted, and request accepted." With that, the guards left the Empress' room. Shinsoo, who was hovering behind Aria, asked her. "Why did you lie?"

Aria went silent for a moment, before answering, "I had to do so, Shinsoo, Phantom's not one who would basically leave things hanging. So to speak."

Shinsoo then asked her"Then, do you expect him to be back in the near future?"

Aria replied "Yes. After all, what he thinks about Skaia is not what he seems."

* * *

It was midnight. Phantom tossed and turned in his bed, trying to shake away this feeling that was stuck in his heart ever since he got back from Ereve. It was a feeling unknown to him, in his entire life, not even in his childhood. Seeking knowledge about this, he searched the airship to find Gaston.

"Ah, Gaston. Come here. I need to ask you something." "Yes, what is it, Master?" asked Gaston, curious as his master never asked him anything before, because whatever he needed to know could be obtained from the brains of the Lumiere, Colette and Christiane.

"Gaston, please don't laugh at this, but I need to ask you about this feeling I got in my chest." "I won't, master, so what is it about?" asked Gaston, his curiosity further fueled. "For some reason, I can't stop thinking about her. I can't sleep, I don't feel like eating, and there's this burning feeling in my chest." Said Phantom.

Gaston thought about this for a while, before answering Phantom's question. 'Sir, I believe what you are feeling now is called love." "Love?" "Yes, love. It's hard to explain, so why don't you try to visit Ereve once in a while? I think you're falling in love with the Empress, bit by bit." Said Gaston.

"Interesting… Thanks Gaston. You're a good friend." Said Phantom, before walking back towards his quarters. "No problem, sir." Said Gaston, returning to whatever he was doing before talking to Phantom.

In the days to come, Phantom repeatedly visited Ereve, on the cover of trying to steal Skaia but instead, he went to visit Empress Aria. Aria, on the other hand, knew that Phantom's visits weren't to obtain the Skaia, but rather… something else. Aria couldn't think of what caused Phantom to continuously visit her in the first place. And then one day, right after another of Phantom's visits, it hit her. Suddenly, but efficiently.

Phantom was in love with her.

God, how could have she missed it? The repeated fake stealings, always failing to steal the Skaia every time he came, the constant shyness whenever he talked to her. Everything made more sense now. She was confused. Should she return the mutual feeling towards him, or should she still play hard- to-get?

On that faithful day, she received a letter from an envoy of the Black Mage. In its contents, the Black Mage offered a peace treaty between him and the Cygnus Knights, as at that time Maple World was fairly unknown to the presence of the Cygnus Knights.

Phantom sneaked up to the balcony, Aria noticing his arrival as usual... "Who's there?" She asked. "Don't tell me that you waited for me all night." said Phantom, playfully. "Shall I send in the guards?" With a small smile, Aria said "For the last time, I'll not hand over Ereve's treasure, no matter how charming you try to be." "Charming? You're finally coming to your senses. "Said Phantom. "The Black Mage's envoys will be visiting Ereve tomorrow. I hope to negotiate terms of piece." Phantom walked up to her. "All this worry... It's not healthy." He then held up a card to her face. Aria looked at it, before phantom turned that card to a flower. With a gasp, she looked at Phantom.

What she saw, was a sincere smile on Phantom's face. One that she never really did get to see on all the times that he visited Ereve. It was at that moment that Aria really realized how much she loved Phantom. He really does look charming in this way, she thought."You're beautiful with a smile on your face." Aria returned the favor, giving him a sincere smile that radiated warmly, before retiring to her quarters, readying for the big day tomorrow.

To this day, not a lot of info was known about what happened on the day Empress Aria was killed, but what they do know that Orchid and Lotus, twin commanders of the Black Mage, killed her during the "talks" between the Black Mage and Empress Aria. When Phantom did know about Empress Aria's fate, however, he rushed back to Ereve, hoping that Aria was safe. What he hoped was wrong, his worst fear, came to life.

Empress Aria, laid dead, on Shinsoo's wing.

Shinsoo itself was in a bad shape. Phantom automatically assumed that the two have been attacked, and Shinsoo tried to protect Aria, but to no avail. Then he heard the Divine Bird speak.

"Phantom... They were… too powerful…" At this, his eyes widened, afraid of the strength of the Black Mage, that was able to kill Aria, and even damage Shinsoo to this extent. "The Skaia… You must take it... You must protect it…" at this, he looked to the heavens above, at the shining moon, at the memory of his loved one, the one whom he would never get to see, ever again.

And he swore revenge. On the one who ordered this. The Black Mage himself.

* * *

In the middle of the night, Freud suddenly woke up at a presence on his window. Getting up and taking his staff with him, he looked outside. There, Phantom was looking outside, to the moon, a card spinning around his finger.

"The infamous thief phantom appears on the doorstep, and offers to change his ways.. Tell me. Is your conscience that heavy?" asked Freud. "What is it?"

"A confession." The card flew off Phantom's finger, and landed on the ground. Freud picked up the card. On the card, was the picture of Phantom and Aria, presumably a picture of a future of their wedding ? Then he understood instantly. Phantom wanted to join the fight against the Black Mage. "It appears the Black Mage stole the wrong treasure.. Heh." No response from Phantom. "Alright, Just keep you hands to yourself. And pay your dues." With that, Freud flicked the card back towards Phantom, who caught the card and dissolved it. "Scoundrel turned Hero.. Its' a big change, don't you think?" Then with a flurry of cards, he teleported himself back towards the Lumiere.

"The world she believed in isn't dead yet… I won't let anyone... bury her dreams."


End file.
